In a major show of Global South solidarity amid US President Donald Trump’s faceoff with BRICS nations and the imposition of tariffs on several members of the grouping, Chinese President Xi Jinping will personally welcome Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Tianjin, China.
Modi is scheduled to visit China later this week, and Russian President Putin will also be arriving in Tianjin for the SCO Summit, scheduled to be held in the port city from August 31 to September 1.
Around 20 world leaders from Central Asia, the Middle East, South Asia, and Southeast Asia have been invited to attend the summit, which comes in the wake of growing global trade tensions due to US President Donald Trump’s imposition of tariffs.
The 2025 SCO Summit, the largest since it was founded in 2001, is already being hailed by China as “an important force in building a new type of international relations.”
Experts believe that Chinese President Xi Jinping wants to use the SCO Summit as an opportunity to showcase how a new world order will look without America and Europe.
While Russia and other Asian countries were already part of this framework, India was the missing link in this new world order.
Although ties between India and China have historically not been friendly, they were particularly strained in 2020 following the military standoff.
For the US and Europe, India has been a key partner in their Indo-Pacific policy to counter the growing rise of China.
However, the second term of Donald Trump has apparently undone the efforts of the last two and a half decades with its reckless and so-called “America First” policies.
Trump first jumped into the India-Pakistan conflict, apparently trying to cross a red line India has drawn since Independence. No third-party mediation in India-Pakistan relations has been New Delhi’s stated policy.
By claiming he forced India to agree to a ceasefire with Pakistan during their four-day conflict in May this year, Trump made India particularly uncomfortable.
Furthermore, his announcement to impose 50 per cent tariffs on India forced New Delhi to take a step back and recalibrate its foreign policy.
India reset its ties with China, as both countries resumed high-level engagement.
In July this year, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar visited China and met President Xi Jinping. This was also Jaishankar’s first meeting with Jinping since the 2020 military standoff between the armies of the two countries.
Earlier this month, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi also visited India, where he held a series of meetings with Jaishankar, NSA Ajit Doval, and PM Modi. Wang formally handed over President Jinping’s invitation to Modi for the SCO Summit.
Welcomed Politburo member and Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Delhi this evening.
Highlighted that our relations are best guided by the three mutuals – mutual respect, mutual sensitivity and mutual interest. As we seek to move ahead from a difficult period in our ties, it needs a… pic.x.com/xRMYm4Nqpv
— Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) August 18, 2025
After meeting Wang, Modi highlighted the steady progress in India-China ties since his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Kazan, Russia, last year.
Glad to meet Foreign Minister Wang Yi. Since my meeting with President Xi in Kazan last year, India-China relations have made steady progress guided by respect for each other’s interests and sensitivities. I look forward to our next meeting in Tianjin on the sidelines of the SCO… pic.x.com/FyQI6GqYKC
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 19, 2025
The Prime Minister underlined that stable, predictable, and constructive ties between India and China will contribute significantly to regional and global peace and prosperity.
In a press briefing ahead of Modi’s China visit, Secretary (West) in the Ministry of External Affairs, Tanmay Lal, said the Prime Minister will hold some bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the Summit.
Sharing the program elements for the SCO Summit in Tianjin, the MEA official said that it includes a welcome banquet dinner on the evening of August 31, with the main summit to be held on September 1.